Pull tabs, as they are known in the gaming industry, are generally color printed and assembled prior to being loaded into dispensing machines. Improved results are obtained in accordance with this invention by using direct thermal print technology to print game results at point of sale or distribution.
Many states sanction games of chance involving preprinted game pieces that can be pulled apart to determine any winnings. The game pieces, which are referred to as xe2x80x9cpull tabsxe2x80x9d, generally contain two layers of paper. The game results are printed on a base layer and are temporarily obscured by a cover layer. Perforations in the cover layer form removable tabs, which can be peeled away to reveal the game results through so-formed windows in the cover layer.
Ordinarily, the pull-tab game pieces are manufactured along high-speed in-line presses. In-line printing is applied to both the base layer and the cover layer to provide information and images for promoting and playing the game. A front face of the base layer generally contains promotional and instructional information concerning game play. A back face of the base layer contains the game results. Digital printing technology is used for serialization and for in-line printing of the results. Less expensive rotary transfer printing technologies are used for repeating patterns. The base layer and the cover layer are laminated together, and perforations are cut through the cover layer to form the tabs that can be peeled back to reveal the game results.
The preprinted game pieces require odds, prizes, and other details of game play and promotion be determined well in advance of play. This limits possibilities for user interaction with game-piece dispensing machines. Any desired change in the ticket price, level of risk, or rules of play requires different pre-printed game pieces. Sometimes, both the number and amounts of the winnings are known for prepackaged sets of game pieces. Early winnings can discourage further sales, because the remaining prizes are known to be diminished.
In addition, the preprinted game pieces require a high standard of security to prevent winning game pieces from being discovered prior to sale. For example, the results must remain hidden from sight by being completely obscured between two substrates. Any tampering of the substrates must be clearly evident. Control over the handling, packaging, and distribution of the pull-tab game pieces is required to guard against more sophisticated breeches of security.
Similar types of games have been developed for play on machines that print the game results locally prior to dispensing the game pieces. The game pieces are printed and dispensed on demand. Odds tables are stored within the machines, allowing for the calculation of odds and scale of winnings for different games and game piece prices. The results of any particular play are not known until the purchased game pieces are printed and dispensed.
Locally printed game pieces are provided in the same basic format, but the base layer is made with micro-encapsulated ink, which is often referred to as xe2x80x9ccarbonless paperxe2x80x9d. An impact printer used without a ribbon forms images in the base layer through the cover layer. The pattern of impacts is apparent in the cover layer, which can detract from the anticipatory nature of the game by revealing the results before the game piece is opened.
However, the results are not known prior to the impact printing of the game piece, so the integrity of the game itself to fairly return results is not affected. The security requirements of pull-tab game pieces for protecting results prior to opening individual game pieces is considerably less if the game piece results are printed at the point of sale, since the results are not determined until a sale is made.
The gaming machines capable of locally printing results for pull-tab game pieces also benefit from their similarity to gaming machines used for traditional gambling purposes. However, pull-tab game pieces are legal in more jurisdictions.
Although on-demand printed pull-tab game pieces have many advantages over pre-printed pull-tab game pieces, impact printing of the game pieces poses problems that detract from the acceptance of the on-demand printed game pieces. In addition to forming an impression of the game results in the surface of the game pieces, which can detract from game play, impact printing is noisy, generates paper dust, and requires considerable maintenance. Costs associated with maintaining remote machines with impact printers can be prohibitively high.
Our invention, provides an improved construction for on-demand printed pull-tab game pieces for supporting the direct thermal printing of results hidden within the game pieces. The new construction is expected to lower cost and improve reliability of machines for dispensing on-demand printed pull-tab game pieces and to enhance play by keeping the results more securely hidden until the game pieces are opened.
An exemplary pull-tab game piece according to our invention includes a base substrate that is at least partially transparent. A thermosensitive imaging layer overlays a front surface of the base substrate, and an opaque coating covers the thermosensitive imaging layer. Bonded to a back surface of the base substrate is a cover substrate within which an at least partially removable tab is formed. Retracting the tab from the cover substrate exposes a view through the base substrate. The opaque coating on the front surface of the base substrate transmits concentrations of heat required to form thermal images in the thermosensitive imaging layer from a thermal print head. However, the opaque coating at least partly obscures a view of the thermal images formed in the thermosensitive imaging layer from the front side of the base layer. When the tab is retracted, the opaque coating visually contrasts with the thermal images formed in the thermosensitive imaging layer as a background against which the thermal images can be distinguished through the back face of the base layer.
The base substrate is preferably a transparent or translucent film. The opaque coating is preferably an ink, such as an ink priritable along an in-line press. The ink""s color should differ from the color of thermal images formed in the thermosensitive imaging layer to provide the desired contrast. To further obscure the thermal images formed in the thermosensitive layer, additional coatings, preferably inks, can be applied over the opaque coating. For example, a confusion pattern having a color matching the color of the thermal images can be printed over the opaque coating.
The removable tab can be formed in a variety of ways. For example, the tab can be formed by a pattern of perforations in the cover substrate. An adhesive responsible for bonding the cover substrate to the base substrate can be patterned to avoid areas of overlap between the tab and the base substrate. Alternatively, the tab can be more completely cut out of the cover and held in place by a so-called fugitive adhesive (a dry release adhesive). Part of the cut-out tab is preferably permanently bonded to the base substrate or attached to the remaining cover substrate to avoid producing separate pieces of scrap following play.
Another exemplary pull-tab game piece according to our invention also includes a base substrate that is at least partially transparent. However, instead of supporting a thermosensitive imaging layer on the front surface of the base substrate, the thermosensitive imaging layer is supported on a back surface of a thermally transmissive substrate, which is bonded to the front face of the base substrate. The thermosensitive imaging layer is oriented adjacent to the front face of the base substrate. The thermally transmissive substrate is at least partially opaque or rendered opaque by the thermosensitive imaging layer itself or an additional coating applied to a front face of the thermally transmissive substrate. A retractable tab is mounted on the back face of the base substrate overlying a region of the thermosensitive imaging layer intended for direct thermal printing through the thermally transmissive substrate. Opaque regions of the thermally transmissive substrate and the retractable tab obscure views of the direct thermal printable region of the thermosensitive imaging layer from both sides of the base substrate.
Retracting the tab allows the printable region to be viewed through the base substrate. Similar to the opaque layer of the previous example, the thermally transmissive substrate together with any immediate coatings or colorings provides contrast for thermal images formed in the thermosensitive imaging layer by direct thermal printing. The thermally transmissive substrate can be made of transmissive materials such as thin paper or film, which are preferably made in a color that contrasts with the thermal images formed in the thermosensitive imaging layer. Coatings, including ink coatings, can be added to provide more color. A confusion pattern or other printing can be added in place of or in addition to the coatings to provide for further obscuring the thermal images viewed from the front face of the base substrate.